then intentionally was a wanker with several of my posts - sorry, just pushing buttons. It's hard to resist when they are so big and so easy to push

but just pushing a button or two yourself - now that I can respect!

Says a lot about your charactor.

KT,

I'm saying that very few dog owners can run AND control a running animal at the same time (hell, not many walkers can control their 60 lb lab either). If you can't control your animal, it should not be in a public place - plain and simple. Far too many people think they are in control of their animal, until it decides to chase something. If you can't be in control of it at all times, keep it away from people, for it's sake and everyone elses.

Walkers have a slightly better chance simply because they have one foot on the ground all the times, I don't care how big you are, if your dog bolts in midstep, you're on you ass and your dog is under my bike tire, and I'm on the ground looking for my cell phone so I can call my lawyer.

Don't care what type of collar, as long as you are in full control at all times.

Bottom line - 99% of all people you see running with dogs shouldn't. My opinion.

Hey dude,

You said attack, not chase! (correction, you did say chase the farm animals, but attack the children. Sorry)

Oh, you got me, I didn't do a double blind study. I just sent a questionnaire around to all the dogs I know.

J.

I have a dog that I run with in the middle of no where. I have never run nor ridden with her in a populated area out of circumstances not that I am afraid she would do anything unpredictable. However, during a group ride last year, a dog on a leash ran off the sidewalk and caused a pileup as everyone pinged into the leash - it left one girl with a broken collar bone and one with a broken arm and lots of us with road rash. I am now more scared of dogs on leashes while biking than those roaming..a good squirt from a water bottle will usually get the ones biting at your wheels to give up. While running I like to see the leash.

Prof V,

From reading your response, it appears that your issue is with people that don't control their dogs. I doubt that there are many people in this forum that would disagree with that position. We can also agree that dogs do not have a place on bike paths (regardless of leash). I don't even like runners/walkers on bike paths - - the reason I ride mainly on a trainer.

The reason for the mass discord appears to be your broad brush castigation of "99%" of all dog owners that run for their failure to control their dogs. I presume that you don't actually mean the numerical percentage of 99%, and that you actually mean "many". Am I correct, or do you actually harbor the belief that 99% of all owners do not control their dogs?

As for the walking vs. running issue, I have far, far more control over my dog when we are running. When we are walking, my dog can and does pull me - I permit it, but only to a degree. In contrast, when we are running, he CANNOT and will NEVER attempt to pull me from our route. With the force of my 175 lbs running in one direction (read inertia), combined with his pinch collar, my dog is fully aware of the repercussions resulting from any inattentiveness.

From personal experience, it is the dog walkers that have a difficult time controlling their dogs. I can't recall a single incidence of another runner's dog lunging at my dog. In contrast, with walkers it is almost a daily occurrence. I suspect this occurence is the norm.

I would tend to agree. Probably because a running dog needs to a) be more attentive to the task at hand (running) to not get a really hard yank, and b) they are less likely to be bored, and therefore curious about anything and everything. When I walk the dog, he wants to look at everything around. When I run with him, all his attention is on me. I don't think this is the exception (but I do have an exceptional dog).

"I have lived in the country and have had dogs attack my children playing in my yard"

i stipulate that this happened to you. i live in the country and i've also had children attack my dogs playing in my yard. what ought i have done about them? take the kids down to the county compound for lethal injections?

if i lived on 2000 acres in patagonia and my dogs ran loose on my own property, there would be people who'd still have a hard on about my dogs. my advice: don't have dogs, and don't come to my house. me, i generally don't like kids. my remedy? i don't have any, and i try not to go places populated by a lot of kids.

the only difference is, i don't initiate threads that say, Kids - Just say NO!!!

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

[reply]then intentionally was a wanker with several of my posts - sorry, just pushing buttons. It's hard to resist when they are so big and so easy to push

but just pushing a button or two yourself - now that I can respect!

Says a lot about your charactor.[/reply]

My apologies Kenny, I'm clearly not as mature as you.

No apologies needed. Maybe you are more mature.I made no judgement,just a statement. . How someone gets their kicks,says a lot about them. "Your words", on how you get your kicks,and what you respect.

Yes, even with a leash it is necessary for the runner to remain aware of the space around them and of other pedestrians in that space. That's a matter of personal responsibility, and when I run with a dog on a leash (not that often these days), I exercise that responsibility. But the title of prof's original post ("Running with Dogs - Just say NO!!!") was a blanket condemnation of responsible and irresponsible dog owners alike (or, at least, those who run with their dogs). I think that was unfair, and therefore I responded to him. But I did not claim that leashes would solve ALL problems; rather, I said they would "largely eliminate" the ones of which he complained.

We should not let our anger lead us into condemning good people as well as bad.

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Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
Which is probably why I was registering 59.67mi as I rolled into T2.